Left Handed Watches

It's estimated that approximately 10% of the world's population is left handed. Almost 90% are right handed, with a very small number of genuinely ambidextrous individuals making up the difference.

Nobody fully understands why this is - but it's interesting to note that there is a similar spread of "handedness" in chimpanzees also. Our closest relatives also have a 90/10% split in favor of being right handed.

Clearly, with such a strong bias toward right handedness, the majority of tools and other items are designed and built with right handed users in mind. For some items that doesn't make a great deal of difference screwdrivers for example.

However, other items which have been designed for use by right handed users can be difficult for left handed people to operate easily. One such example would be wristwatches.

Were a left handed person to wear their watch on their left wrist, then they would have to stop what they were doing every time that they wanted to know the time. If they were writing, they would need to stop, put the pen down and check the time. Even if they were doing something as simple as drinking coffee, they would need to put the item in their hand down check the time, and then pick it up again.

On the other hand (literally), if they were to wear a standard wristwatch on their right wrist then, although they would have fewer interruptions when they wanted to check the time, the controls would be on the right hand side of the watch face. They would have to "reach over" the watch to access them.

Very few people have wind up watches these days, so it's maybe not quite as bad as it once was. Nevertheless, if the left handed user wanted to access different functions by pressing controls, it would be just a little awkward.

Fortunately there are plenty of specially designed left handed watches to choose from - but it's amazing how many people don't realize this. These watches are basically the same as standard watches - but the controls are on the left hand side of the watch face.

This means that "lefties" can wear their watch on their right wrist and have easy access to the controls anytime they want. A specially designed left handed watch can make a very thoughtful gift for a friend or family member - especially if they are among the mnay people who don't know about this option.